MALTA
Malta Today
Fr Mark Montebello has denied acting as an intermediary between a victim’s lawyer and an unidentified person who was ready to pay a six-figure sum in exchange for the woman’s silence.
The woman is one of the complainants in the clerical sex abuse case involving the former Kergyma Movement director.
Yesterday, the Sunday Times of Malta reported that the offer had been communicated by Fr Montebello to Edgar Bonnici Cachia, the victim’s lawyer.
Bonnici Cachia told the newspaper that it was Montebello who called him, informing him of the offer. According to the same newspaper, Montebello had passed on a message on behalf of a married person.
But in reply to the news report, Montebello denied having ever acted an intermediary.
“I had not been in any way an intermediary in the matter. What happened was that, while speaking with Edgar Bonnici Cachia on the phone about some other matter, I mentioned in passing that it came to my attention that money had been offered to the alleged victim and that it had been refused.
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